April 2001

Posted by: Tony L on 09 April 2001

God, it’s the 9th of April, and no one has started a thread yet…

Ladytron '604' - Time to do my bit for the local economy. There are a few pretty interesting things happening in the Liverpool music scene at the moment: Three minute margin, Mugstar, Dirtbox, Flamingo 50, Kling Klang, Ladytron, and Dead Cowboys spring to mind, of this lot only the last two currently have any product. Ladytron have been producing quite a bit of a buzz recently, they picked up three NME singles of the week, and their debut album has rightly received a lot of good press.

'604' has an unquestionably high retro kitsch value, its all old bleepy and squelchy analogue synths (obviously a good thing). It balances ultra credible Kraftwerk, Neu, Aphex Twin references against an ability to actually find something good in 80s synth pop. Once they throw in a female vocalist with an unbelievably cool eastern European accent (Bulgarian?) they have me hooked… ok, lets be honest, they probably had me hooked at the point they took their name from the Roxy Music track with the best Eno VCS3 freakout.

My only criticism is that I feel they have been over ambitious by flinging 16 tracks on this their debut album, there is IMHO a little filler, and the removal of say four songs would probably have produced a far more cohesive whole. This seems to be a curse of the times, take the Badly Drawn Boy album as further evidence that you really can have too much of a good thing…

Check out www.invictahifi.co.uk/ladytron

Tony.

Posted on: 09 April 2001 by Andrew Randle

quote:
God, it’s the 9th of April, and no one has started a thread yet…

It's 'cos we're too busy listening to our new discs!!!

Here's what I bought:

Baby Mammoth 'Another Day at the Orifice' - one of the best and distinct records from these woolie-effylumps, signed on the Pork Label. Ambient groove with distinctive style. Check out www.cdnow.com for sound samples.
Mateo & Matos 'Many Shades of Mateo & Matos' - I can't believe no-one has mentioned these guys as yet. This is ambient trip-hop with style and groove. One of my best 'finds' in recent months. Format tends to be a short intro track, followed by a meaty number . Try out the samples at: Link to Mateo&Matos music and let me know what you think.
Kevin Yost 'Small Town Underground' - My big thanks go to Vuk who posted about this artist. Some excellent dance music here - quite a lot of break-beats going on though (I'd rather "shake it, don't break it").

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

Posted on: 09 April 2001 by Andrew Randle

We really need that old forum archive

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

Posted on: 09 April 2001 by John C

Tony said..."My only criticism is that I feel they have been over ambitious ...This seems to be a curse of the times, "

Some times I feel this is the real problem with the CD format, quite simply too long. Original albums filled out with sub standard stuff, reissues packed with rejected takes.. pointless. Then again 20 years ago I thought anything longer than Teenage Kicks was a concept album.

The only new thing Ive bought recently is Martial Solal Dodecaband "Plays Ellington" released last year I think. Really interesting witty reworking of Ellington classics Caravan, A Train etc. Hard to be completely original with classic material like this but he succeeds. Bits of funny film music, cartoon toons etc somehow incorporated into the old meloides. Strangely reminiscent of Sun Ra in places. Top notch big band jazz but overall perhaps too intellectual for my poorly evolved tastes.

Otherwise immersed in used vinyl bins and among others picked up an nice Milestone 2fer of Bill Evans Village Vanguard sesions, McCoy Tyner Supertrios a Milestone 2 fer again. I think these 70s prestige/Milestone 2 Lps for the price of one are a bargain, but it worries me Im a rather undiscriminating vinyl buyer.The Art Pepper record of this week was Intensity.

John

[This message was edited by John C on MONDAY 09 April 2001 at 22:44.]

Posted on: 13 April 2001 by Tony L

Alpha ‘The impossible thrill’ – Alpha are probably filed as trip-hop simply because they will not fit anywhere else, they simply do seem to aspire to the jagged stripped down and edgy grooves of Portishead, or the chilled dub of Massive Attack, or even the tripped out pop of Morcheeba.

The eleven tracks on ‘The impossible thrill’ just flow into one another and become a whole. There is very little sampling here, and what exists is certainly not of the cut and shut variety, this album is built with “real” instruments.

Orchestration is large and lush, real strings, vibes etc – my impression is that if a few channels were muted on the mixer what would be left is the soundtrack of a cool black and while sixties film, probably French. This album, like their debut ‘Come from heaven’ does not overwhelm with obvious hooks, it is far more subtle than that, and far better as a result.

Senor Coconut Y Su Conjunto ‘El baile aleman’ – I have finally, after many, many, many years of trying actually found the greatest album in the world. Great music is all about combining great music, what this album does is combine a (apparently) well known Latin American band with the music of Kraftwerk. Pause for a minute, I will just let that sink in…

Ok, here we have nine classic Kraftwerk songs played by a what sounds like a traditional Brazilian band in a traditional Latin American style. The line up is vibraphone, congas, sax, double bass, and countless bizarre items of ethnic percussion. By the time it got passed the introduction and into the first track ‘Showroom dummies (cha-cha-cha)’ I was (a) totally hysterical, and (b) totally hooked.

The way this album is put together is outrageous, the recording quality is absolutely stunning, its one of the best sounding CDs I own, and as for the cover… sheer class. The sound, feel, and totally irreverent bizarreness of the content reminds me of the RCA Living Stereo ‘space age bachelor pad music’ pioneers Esquivel and Dick Schory*.

The thing about this modern classic from Senor Coconut is not only that it is really, really enjoyable, it also exposes just how stunningly good many of Kraftwerk’s songs were. Buy this immediately if (like me) you are a Kraftwerk completist, buy it immediately if you’re not. Essential.

Tony.

* If you don’t know what the hell I am on about here you owe it to yourself to hear Esquivel’s ‘Exploring new sounds in hi-fi’ or ‘Music for bang, baroom, and harp’ by Dick Schory – both from 1958, both totally mental. Search on allmusic.com for ‘Esquivel’, you will get an idea of the mans greatness.

Posted on: 18 April 2001 by Tony L

quote:
have you seen the ladytron album on vinyl?

No. I just bought the CD.

quote:
i have all (4 on invicta and one from france on tricatel 10", is that all?) the singles but i havent found the album on vinyl in my usual suppliers in london.

There is a discography on the site I mention in my original post, I think all you are missing is a Jap only CD.

What record shops do you frequent in London? When I lived there I bought nearly all my new vinyl from Selectadisk and Sister Ray in Berwick street, and the Rough Trade shops in both Notting Hill and Covent Garden.

Ray's jazz shop on Monmouth Street certainly delivers the goods both new and second hand in the jazz and blues fields. Honest Jon's records on Portabello Road is also stunning for second hand jazz, and blues vinyl (and cheaper than Ray's). There are many, many bargains to be had a Music Video Exchange in Notting Hill if you are prepared to ferret through the bargain bins. Intoxica is also welll worth a look when down in the Portabello Road area.

Tony.

Posted on: 18 April 2001 by Peter Stockwell

quote:
What record shops do you frequent in London? When I lived there I bought nearly all my new vinyl from Selectadisk and Sister Ray in Berwick street, and the Rough Trade shops in both Notting Hill and Covent Garden.

Don't forget Mole's Jazz, near Kings Cross, expensive for collectables but OK for other stuff, I got a nice introduction to Bud Powell on vinyl for £3 there as well as Santana Abraxas for the same price.

Reckless records in Islingtion has gems too, I found Tom Wait's Blue Valentines for £8, elektra US import at that.

Peter

Posted on: 18 April 2001 by John C

If you get as far as Islington on this Odyssean journey around Londons record shops head up the Essex Rd a bit to Haggle Vinyl for all sorts of music. Overpriced but amenable to haggle as the name suggests. Now all we need is a list of pubs in the vicinities and we have a real day out. I sugget walking from Mole to the Angel by way of Filthy Mc Nasties an old Shane McGowan haunt with Londons best pint of Guinness.

John

Posted on: 18 April 2001 by Pete

Been a while since I bought much for various reasons, but have just started again. First off the starting block were Vols 1 & 2 from the Afro Celt Sound System. Vol 1 is very good and Vol 2 is too, with a good mix of beats with traditional styles and instrumentation. If you like these, try Martyn Bennet, or if you like Martyn Bennet, try these...

As mentioned elsewhere here, the new(ish) JB is a bit of a scorcher and Bill Frisell's "Nashville" is a wonderful record.

Have just ordered the remasters of the 3 KC 80s albums, Discipline, Beat and 3 of a Perfect Pair. The packaging consists of gatefold miniatures of the original album sleeves with scrapbooks in each release: very nice, assuming standards are the same as the previous 7. The previous remasters have done sonically nice things, and as a bonus you get the original and alternative versions of Matte Kudasai on Discipline and a couple of remixes of Sleepless and alternative improvs on 3oaPP. If not all 3, then everyone should at least have a copy of Discipline as it's a very, very good record. Once the gatefolds have sold out they'll revert to jewel cases IIRC.

Pete.

Posted on: 18 April 2001 by Martin M

quote:
Senor Coconut Y Su Conjunto ‘El baile aleman’ – I have finally, after many, many, many years of trying actually found the greatest album in the world.

This album sounds like a classic and a future collectors item. I've ordered a copy from Amazon. Music Non Stop should be....a spectacle!

Thanks again!